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Welcome to the Healthwise® Knowledgebase

The Healthwise®
Knowledgebase includes health-related information that can help you make better
health decisions.

Understanding Topics

Wise Health Decisions

Medical Illustrations

Actionsets

Decision Points

Understanding Topics

If you think of the
Healthwise® Knowledgebase as a library of
health-related information, then topics are the library
books-each containing information about a specific health condition, test, or
medication.

How topics are organized

Most topics are organized in sections. These sections are similar to the
chapters in a book.

Some sections you're likely to see are:

Topic Overview: A general introduction to the topic.

Symptoms: The common signs associated with the medical
condition.

Treatment Overview: Descriptions of the ways a condition can be treated
at home or by a health care provider.

Navigating within a topic:

The topic title and the
topic section name appear at the top of the page in the
Healthwise® Knowledgebase. These headings can help
you remember where you are within a topic.

Links within a topic: Often the text in a topic contains words that connect, or
link, to pages with additional or related information. These links have a
different color or appearance than the surrounding text. Some links take you to
other parts of the same topic, and others take you to a different topic. Note
that the topic title (at the top of each page) changes when you follow a link
to a different topic.

Links in the Healthwise®
Knowledgebase can also lead you to illustrations, Actionsets, Decision Points,
and definitions.

Wise Health Decisions

People who are well informed
prepare for their doctor visits and participate fully in their health care
decisions. As a result, they have lower health care costs, get better care, and
are happier with the health care system.

All of the topics in the
Healthwise® Knowledgebase encourage you to take an
active role in your health. The following topics describe some of the important
skills and habits you can develop for dealing with health problems:

Medical Illustrations

The
Healthwise® Knowledgebase contains more than 1,000
medical illustrations. These illustrations may help you better understand how
the body works and is affected by certain conditions.

In most
versions of the Healthwise® Knowledgebase, a small
picture of a camera (
) indicates a
link to a medical illustration.

Links that don't work:If you click a link in a topic and nothing seems to happen, check
the Options or Preferences for your Internet browser and make sure that
JavaScript is turned on.

Actionsets

Actionsets are topics designed to help
you or someone you care for take an active role in managing a health condition.
Managing a health condition means taking a set of actions to better control the condition's effect on you and to prevent
long-term problems.

Actionsets:

Provide action-oriented tools and information
that you can use in day-to-day management of your health
conditions.

Contain information that will help you better
understand the effect of the actions you take.

This
image identifies links to Actionsets, which generally appear in the
Home Treatment section of selected topics. Actionsets
can also be found in the Health Tools section of a topic.

What's included within an Actionset?

Section

Information

Introduction

Medical information or key concepts
related to the action

The purpose of the action

How

Steps involved in taking
action

Tools to help you track your progress, remind you about
important steps, and other related information

Decision Points

Within the course of every illness
or health problem, you have to make decisions—little decisions about whether to
call a doctor and what self-care is best, and big decisions about medications,
tests, and surgeries. Decision Point topics focus on medical care decisions you
may face.

Decision Point topics help you understand the key
information and important issues related to your decision. Before you can make
an informed decision it's important that you:

Fully understand the medical problem and
testing or treatment options.

Consider your personal values and
preferences.

This information will help you work in partnership with
your doctor. When both you and your doctor participate in the decision-making
process, you'll reach the decision that best fits your needs and
concerns.

This image identifies links
to Decision Points. The links can appear in any section of a related topic but
most often appear in the Treatment Overview, the Exams and Tests section, or the Living With … section. Decision
Points can also be found in the Health Tools section of a topic.

What's included within a Decision Point?

Key points to remember

Key points
are the core of a decision. They capture the most important information in the
Decision Point and present it in an easy-to-understand format. Often, key
points summarize compelling medical information, offer a concise look at risk
versus benefit, explain possible short-term and long-term outcomes, cite expert
recommendations, or even offer common-sense advice. The remaining sections in
the Decision Point support the statements made in the key points.

FAQs

The"FAQs" section presents
medical information in question-and-answer format. This section includes
medical facts about the options presented in the Decision Point, such
as:

What's involved in each option.

How well each option works.

How factors such as stage of disease, health history, and age
might affect the decision.

What the clinical guidelines recommend.

Compare Options

The
"Compare Options" section offers a side-by-side comparison table that allows
you to directly compare the benefits and risks of each option. Personal stories
about people who chose each option are included.

Your Feelings

The "Your Feelings" section helps
you think about and express your feelings and preferences about the
options.

Your Decision

The
"Your Decision" section asks which option you are leaning toward, after having
learned the key medical facts and thought about what matters to you.

Quiz Yourself

The "Quiz Yourself"
section lets you check your knowledge of the facts. You can also express how
confident you feel about making the decision and record any other concerns you
may have.

Your Summary

The
"Your Summary" section collects the information you have entered throughout the
Decision Point so that you can review it and even make a printout to take to
your next doctor's visit. Your doctor can use the summary page to see how well
you understand the medical facts, what your personal feelings are about the
decision, and which way you're leaning. You can also share the printout with
anyone else whom you want to involve in the decision.

Topic Contents

This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use.
How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.